Hoisting-crane



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet l.

A. J. STEVENS.

HOISTING CRANE.

Patented Sept. 16, 1884.

No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

A. J. STEVENS. HOISTING CRANE.

Patente d Sept; 16, 1884'.

UNITED STATES AFTENT Fries.

} ANDRE\V J. STEVENS, OF SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA.

HOlSTlNG-CRANE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 305,248, dated September 16, 1884. Application filed dune 30, ISM. tNomodcl.)

' I aZZ whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, ANDREW J. STEVENS. a citizen of the United States, residing in Sacramento, Sacramento county, State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Cranes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the said invention, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to a novel construction of power'crane wherein steam is employed as the lifting agent. It embraces certain con struction and combination of liftingcylinder and connected parts for raising the load and a locking mechanism of novel character for holding the load at any point and relieving the lifting mechanism ot'the suspended weight. It includes, also, the combination and general arrangement of parts and mechanism, as hereinafter described and pointed out, producing alight and powerful crane for use upon a track.

Referring 'to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portable crane constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a top view, the outer end of the boom being broken off in both figures, but shown more in detail with the parts in Figs. 3 and 4, which are side elevation and top view, respectively, of this outer end, as well as of the cylinders and mechanism carried by the boom, Fig. 5 is a detail view, in plan, of the valve-gear.

While these improvements are applicable to hoisting-cranes generally, my invention contemplates the production of a light, powerful, and easily-operated crane for use upon railroads, to coal locomotives, load. cars, and other work. For such purposes the crane is mounted upon a movable platform. The truck has flanged wheels, and in the center of the frame a socket, 1), consisting of a cast-iron plate with a heavy rim surrounding the central opening, affords a support for the mast B in the truck. A collar, b, on the mast fits within the rim, and has rollers set under it to reduce friction and permit the mast to turn stay-bolts.

column with a cap, B, upon which the boom D is set, and a foot, 13, on the other end that sets into the step-box and forms the pivot on which the crane swings. A steam-boiler, D, and a water-tank, Di-are fixed to the mast by brackets (1 din such manner that they are supported clear of the truckplatform, and their weight is opposed to the weight of the load at the outer end of the boom. Steam is carried from the boiler to the hoisting'cyliuder through the pipe. The piston of this cylinder is directly connected with the hoistingrope G, and has a length of stroke sufficient to raise the load a given distance. The movement is multiplied, however, by the arrangement offixed and traveling pulleys at the end of the boom, and a short cylinder is thereby obtained.

The steam-cylinder E is tired on top of the boom at the tail end and directly over the end of the mast. Its piston-rod E is directly connected to the moving cross-head F, of which the tubular slides f are fitted on two parallel guide-rods, g 9, that are fixed at the ends in short posts on the boom. This cross-head carries a sheave, 72, around which the hoistingrope is turned and brought to the front to the fixed sheave h on the end of the boom, by which it is bent to the perpendicular or into the required direction to take the load at the end. To the same cross-head, F, is also connected the pist0nrod H of the locking-cylinder H. This is a cylinder of equal length with, but of smaller diameter than, the steanrcylinder, and mounted upon it so that the two piston-rods shall move parallel and withequal stroke. The space on both sides of its piston is filled with some suitable liquid, and the two bodies thus divided by the piston are brought into connection by means of a pipe or tubular passage, P 1 having a valve or stop-cock, S, in-

terposed at some convenient point, by'the action-of which the passage of the fluid is cut offor allowed to take place from one side to the other of the pistonl This valve, by controlling the movement of the confined fluid, en ables the piston to be locked and held at any point or released to move regularly with the hoisting-piston. As the liquid fills the entire space in cylinder and pipe or passage, it resists the strain on the piston-rod as long as the passage from one side to the other of the piston is closed; but when the valve M is opened the piston is free to move as fast as the liquid can be forced from one side to the other. Steam is supplied to the hoisting-cylinder through the pipe at m in two sections, with a two-way valve, M, interposed between them. This Valve and that controlling the liquid-cylinder are set in a bracket in such close relation together that both can be moved by a single lever. One section or portion m of this pipe is always a conductor of steam, while the other portion m is supplying steam to the hoisting-cylinder in one position of the valve, and is a conducter for the waste steam when the valve is reversed. \Vhen the valve is thus opened in line with the waste-pipe It, there is a continuous dischargepassage through the pipe m It into the throat of the boiler-stack. These liquid and steam controlling valves are coupled together to be moved simultaneously, for thelocking-piston must be released and free to move with the hoisting-piston.

The mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and 5 rep resents one mode of operating the valves with a single lever-handle. The stem of the oil-valve has a pinion, s, and the other valvestem has a segment-gear, s,with a handle, m", in gear with it, so that movement of the handle in one direction brings the two passages on m together, and in the reverse direction connects the two m and R. In each position also the liquid-valve S is opened. As thus constructed, this locking device operates to hold the load at any point, and thereby relieve the steam-piston.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In ahoisting-crane, the eonibination,with and upon the swinging boom, of the hoistingcylinder, with connections for a supply and discharge of steam and a valve for controlling the same, a traveling crosshead connected to the rod of the hoisting-piston and moving 011 guides upon the boom, ahoistingrope connected to said crosshead and turning over a sheave at thepoint of the boom, and a means for locking said cross-head to hold the hoisting-rope and sustain the load when the hoisting-piston is at rest, substantially as herein described.

2. 111 a hoisting-crane,the combination,upon the swinging boom, of the hoisting cylinder and piston E, cross-head F, traveling on guides g, hoistingrope, liquid-cylinder H, having connection of its piston with the traveling cross-head, the steam-pipes m m, the liquidcirculating pipes 1? P connecting the ends of the liquid-cylinder together, and the steam and liquid controlling valves M S, substantially as herein described.

3. The combination, upon the swinging boom, of the traveling cross-head F, carrying a sheave, the fixed sheave h, the hoisting' rope G. the hoisting-cylinder E, and the locking-cylinder H, substantially as herein described.

4. In ahoisting-crane, the oombination,with the hoisting mechanism, of alocking mechanism or device consisting of a 1iquid-cylinder, the piston whereof is connected to the hoisting-rope, and acommunicating passage between the opposite ends of the cylinder, having a stopcock or valve, substantially as herein described.

5. The combination of a suitable supporting-platform, the stepped mast, the boiler and tank secured to and carried by the mast, the boom with hoisting-cylinder mounted thereon, the traveling cross-head and hoisting-rope connected thereto, the locking-cylinder, and connections of its piston to the cross-head, the pipes I, 1, R, and m, and the coupled valves M S, substantially as described.

6. The combination of a traveling cross head movable upon guides, a hoisting-rope fixed thereto, a hoisting-cylinder connected with a steam-supply, a locking-cylinder filled with a liquid, and having the space at one side of its piston connected with the space at the opposite side, and a valve for establishing and shutting off communicationbetween the spaces through such passage, substantially as herein described.

ANDREWV J. STEVENS. [L s] Vitnesses:

CHAS. SOHMITT, BERT. A. XVoR'rHINc-ror'. 

